Motorola adds three 5G Edge 20 phones to its lineup for international markets

Motorola has three new 5G phones in store for buyers next month, with one starting as low as €350 ($416). But Motorola fans in the US are out of luck. The new devices are only arriving in international markets.

The new phone lineup -- the €350 Motorola Edge 20 Lite, €500 ($594) Edge 20 and €700 ($832) Edge 20 Pro -- all feature three rear camera lenses and sub-6Ghz 5G connectivity, allowing them to tap into the slower but more reliable 5G networks being rolled out across the globe. The Edge 20 will arrive in August in select markets across Europe, Latin America, the Middle East and Asia, while the Lite and Pro version will come to the same regions, as well as the Middle East. 

While they won't arrive in the US, Motorola said it "is excited to share its commitment to deliver a new 5G Edge family device in North America this fall."

The first 5G phones available in 2019 cost significantly more than their 4G counterparts. But the coronavirus pandemic has forced handset makers to reevaluate their launch plans and drop pricing for 5G phones much more quickly than many market watchers had expected. Many have introduced mainstream devices alongside or shortly after pricier flagship models. And even new, premium models have seen steep discounts. 

So far this year, Motorola has taken a different strategy, focusing initiallyon budget devices to appeal to a wide swath of price-sensitive buyers. The new Edge 20 lineup is its first effort in 2021 to introduce higher-end devices -- but still keeping pricing lower than what some rivals have introduced.

With the Edge 20 devices, Motorola has "gone beyond the previous generation of Edge in nearly every category, bringing more powerful processors, a main camera with bigger pixels, our first ever periscope style zoom, a faster display refresh rate, faster battery charging and expanded experiences on the Ready For software platform," Motorola said Thursday in a blog post. "But we're also bringing these incredible new features at more accessible price points."

The Motorola Edge 20 Lite will feature a 108MP camera, 5,000 mAh battery, Android 11 and a 6.7-inch screen. The battery could provide about two days of use without charging, Motorola said, and a TurboPower 30 feature will give users a day's worth of power in just 10 minutes of charging. The Edge 20 Lite will be available in two colors, electric graphite and cyber tea. 

The Motorola Edge 20 will have the same 108MP main camera, 6.7-inch screen size and Android 11 but will come with a smaller, 4,000 mAh battery because of the device's thinner size. The 6.99-millimeter thickness of the Edge 20 makes it one of the thinnest 5G phones on the market, Motorola said. If quick power is needed, the TurboPower feature will allow the phone eight hours of charge in 10 minutes. It will be available in three different colors -- frosted onyx, frosted pearl and frosted emerald. 

The Motorola Edge 20 Pro will feature a 108MP main camera, a 4,500 mAh battery, Android 11 and a 6.7-inch screen. The Motorola Edge 20 Pro will give users 30 hours of battery life on 5G without needing to recharge and an ultra-wide angle lens equipped with Macro Vision. The lens will allow users to capture four-times more of the scene in the frame. The third "periscope style" camera will be Motorola's first periscope style lens which allows for light bending up to 90 degrees and five times the distance. It will also be available in three different colors -- midnight sky, iridescent cloud and indigo vegan leather.